Rex Brown and Philip Anselmo of PANTERA have paid tribute to Jerry Abbott, the father of the band’s founding members, drummer Vincent “Vinnie Paul” Abbott and guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, who passed away on April 2 at a caregiving facility in Denton, Texas.
Earlier today, on Monday, April 8th, Brown and Anselmo shared the following statement through their social media:
“Rest in Peace Jerry Abbott.
“Jerry was the father of Vince & Darrell & was a huge influence on us, in our formative years. He passed down an incredible legacy of his own. He was a great songwriter and a much sought after engineer & producer. He managed the band from ’82-’89 & taught us a lot. We can look back now & see that without him; we might not have ever made it out of Tejas. But we did…
“Hearing the news of his passing, we immediately thought of all the great times we had with the ‘LD‘, a nickname we gave him, and all the things that made him so very special!! This cannot be said enough, he was one of the good ones & will be missed!! He’s in a much better place now… God Bless.”
Abbott oversaw the production of PANTERA‘s first three albums – Metal Magic in 1983, Projects In The Jungle in 1984, and I Am The Night in 1985. He engineered their 1988 record Power Metal, releasing all four through his Metal Magic Records label. Abbott later collaborated with PANTERA once more for their 1994 album Far Beyond Driven, recorded at his Abtrax Recording studio.
A decade following Dimebag‘s passing, Jerry published a book titled Over My Left Shoulder: The Life And Times Of Jerry Abbott through CreateSpace, the publishing platform affiliated with the worldwide online retailer and publisher Amazon.
Discussing the breakup of PANTERA, Jerry, who admitted to having “very little contact” with his sons “from the time [the band] began their world tour in support of Cowboys From Hell until they began recording Far Beyond Driven,” remarked: “Too much success can breed failure and often does. I think that’s an accurate assessment of what happened to PANTERA. It’s like a marriage that’s just too good to believe, and the next thing you know it’s on the rocks.”
“What happened? Who knows? People grow apart. People have different ideas. People develop physical or mental problems. Booze and drugs don’t help the situation, and one unhappy camper can spoil the whole bunch.
“PANTERA had been to the top of the marquee more than once and lived to tell about it, but this time it was not to be. The year 2003 marked the end of PANTERA.”
